


empty nest

by WattStalf



Series: Commissions [48]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Art Trade, Drabble, Empty Nest Seteth, F/M, Mild Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: She's gone now.
Relationships: Flayn/Linhardt von Hevring, My Unit | Byleth/Seteth
Series: Commissions [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1325462
Comments: 1
Kudos: 74





	empty nest

**Author's Note:**

> ayo flayn got hitched

“She’s gone,” Seteth says to himself for about the fifth time that day, sounding a little more numb each time. He didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye, didn’t have the chance to truly come to terms with it, and Byleth has to admit that she feels bad for him, but at the same time, she understands.

Flayn has run away to get married with another of Byleth’s former students. She and Linhardt are eloping, with Linhardt renouncing his noble title in order to pursue his research, alongside his wife-to-be. They were close in school and during the war, so close Seteth intended to put a stop to it immediately, and was just barely talked down from it most times, and Linhardt was able to brush him off the other times, in that uncaring way that only he could.

In the end, his worries were properly placed, at least in assuming that Linhardt was going to take Flayn away from him, and now she’s gone, one of his greatest fears realized. He’s been left alone, with only Byleth to comfort him.

“You know this was going to happen eventually,” she replies, because there is not much left to say to him. “She wanted her independence, and you wanted a safer world for her to have it. That’s what you were fighting for.”

“I know that,” he says, looking up at her with a heartbreaking expression. “Of course I know that, and I want to be happy for her. Truly, I…”

“But it’s still hard.”

“It’s still very, very hard. I’ve spent so long fighting to keep her safe and always keeping her close by my side just to make sure...i-if anything were to happen to her because I wasn’t there, then-”

“Then that wouldn’t be your fault,” Byleth interrupts. “That’s something you have to accept. She’s not a child anymore, she hasn’t been for a long time. Her life is her own responsibility, and she’s chosen to leave your side. If something happens to her while you’re not around, then it couldn’t be your fault.”

“I’ll always be her father. Nothing could ever stop me from worrying about her.”

“She loves you very much, she always has, and no one can blame you for worrying about her. But you need to take a step back and let her breathe for a while. I promise you, she’ll come back someday,” she assures him. “It might be a long wait, but the two of you have plenty of time.”

He sighs, staring down at the ground. “I know that you’re right. Everyone’s always told me she would need her space eventually, and I was always certain I would be ready when the time came, I just...I never allowed myself to think about the time coming, and she decided she was ready before I had the chance.”

Byleth rests a hand on his shoulder, not saying anything else as she allows him to vent. “I know it’s my fault, and that I’ve pushed too hard. That’s the only reason I haven’t tried to put together a search party to bring her back home. She’s not a child, you’re right. I just hope...I just hope she does come back someday.”

“You’ll see her again. Just...promise you won’t do anything to poor Linhardt when you do?” she teases, and Seteth scowls.

“At that rate, you should hope it’s a long time before I see either of them again. Perhaps by then I’ll have cooled off enough that he can escape with his life.” For a moment, he seems entirely serious, but then he cracks a slight smile, and she knows that he’s going to be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> 


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